Chapter 838

Before I knew it, I walked right in and bought two different brands of pregnancy tests, like I was on autopilot. Then, I turned the car around and sped home.

Since I’d been through pregnancy once before, I knew better than to just guess – best to make sure first. I stared at the clock, my brain basically short-circuiting for those five minutes.

‘I mean, I know you can’t just make a baby on a whim,’ I thought to myself, ‘but honestly, with Ryan around during New Year… we didn’t exactly play it safe!’

After five minutes, I saw two lines – and my whole body went numb. I grabbed the other test, just to be sure, and it was the same – two lines.

Once I calmed down, I started piecing it together, tracing back in my mind to figure out which day this happened. Turns out, all signs pointed to that day in the car… I grabbed my phone, snapped a photo of the test, and sent it right over to Ryan – no hesitation at all. He shot back two question marks, and less than a minute later, he was calling me.

“Vic, is this for real?” Ryan’s voice could hardly contain his joy and excitement. “Honestly, I had no idea what it was at first – I even asked one of the guys at work, and he said that’s a pregnancy test.”

“Ryan, I honestly never thought… this would happen,” I said with a quiet voice.

“I’m sorry, Vic. Did you not want this?” Ryan immediately caught on to my lack of excitement, sounding anxious.

I looked down at my still-flat belly. “No, that’s not it. I’m just… caught off guard.”

“I’m heading back to Braylin now. Just wait for me,” Ryan said – and then, before I even had a chance to respond, he hung up.

I never thought Ryan would actually drop everything and rush back, but sure enough, by seven he was standing at my door holding a gorgeous bouquet of flowers.

“Ryan, didn’t I tell you not to come back? You said work was crazy last time,” I blurted out, a bit flustered – I had even messaged him to say there was no need for him to rush over.

Ryan’s gaze shifted from my face to my belly, and before I could react, he set the flowers down on the shoe rack, picked me up, and spun me around right there. Then, holding me tight, he said, “Vic, let’s get married tomorrow.”

“Whoa… that’s so sudden!” I was shocked all over again. Ryan always caught me off guard, but somehow his surprises managed to ease all my worries.

“Now that we’ve got a little one on the way, it’s time to think about forever. You’re not planning to kick me to the curb and just keep the baby, right?” Ryan asked, gently setting me down and locking eyes with me.

I smiled softly. “No way. With a dad as awesome as you, of course I want our baby to grow up with both loving parents.”

Ryan leaned down and gently kissed my lips. “Good to hear you say that. Sometimes I wonder if you’ll suddenly do something totally unpredictable, and then what would I do with you?”

I blinked up at him. “Ryan, seriously, I’m not always coming up with wild plans.”

Ryan went back to stay at Jennings Manor that night, instead of crashing at my place. The next morning, right at nine, he showed up clutching a fat stack of papers – he’d spent the whole night with the Jennings family’s asset lawyers, having them put together a full inventory of everything under his name.

I looked at that mountain of documents, my jaw practically dropped.

Ryan let out a slow breath. “Some of my holdings aren’t exactly meant to be out in the open, so this is all I could get together for you right now. Vic, honestly, don’t stress about money. Once the baby’s here, you don’t have to devote yourself entirely to childcare – you’ll still have the freedom to chase whatever makes you happy.”

“Ryan…” My eyes welled up as I looked at him. I honestly didn’t expect him to be this thoughtful about it – I thought he was going to hand me a prenup, but turns out, he just wanted to show me his list of assets. Seeing that he’d already written in the part about joint marital property almost made me ridiculously happy.

He came in with everything laid out, while I hadn’t prepared a thing. Sure, my own assets didn’t hold a candle to his, but honestly, for me they were more than enough to live well.

After we got everything notarized, we went to the marriage registry, and soon enough, a fresh new marriage certificate was resting right in my palm.

That afternoon, Ryan took me to the hospital for my first prenatal checkup.

Lying on the exam table, I watched as the doctor moved the ultrasound wand over my belly. Ryan was right beside me, looking so serious you’d think he was at a life-or-death briefing. This was his first time as a dad, and honestly, I could tell he was completely locked in, determined to soak up every detail. ‘Look at him,’ I thought, ‘he’s really taking this “dad” thing seriously.’

“Here’s the embryo… let’s listen to the heartbeat,” the doctor said, adjusting the wand to find the sound.

Trust me, I’ve been through all of this before – none of it was new to me, at least that’s what I kept telling myself.

But the moment the doctor picked up a second fetal heartbeat on the monitor, all I could hear in my head was static – ‘Wait, what?’ I thought, completely stunned.